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How To Use Android Device Manager to Protect and Locate

As some of the latest Android phones are becoming expensive due to the advanced premium features, users are worrying about keeping their devices safe. I’m sure if you spent a lot of bucks on a premium Android phone, such as the LG G3, then you would want to make sure that your device is safe.

While one of the issues is keeping the device safe, the other issue is to keep your data safe. I’m not talking about your ordinary videos or music files here. Since the latest Android phones are competing with PCs, some businesses and organizations store confidential data on Android devices. Even though viruses are rare on Android, you can get in big trouble if your confidential data gets into the wrong hands.

Apple’s Find my iPhone service became quite popular and helped iPhone users locate their phones instantly. If you’ve been jealous of the Find my iPhone feature, then there is good news for you. Android Device Manager is the hottest new service from Google that works quite similar to Find my iPhone and if you’re worried about losing your phone or your data, then this is probably the best solution available.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to use Android device manager with your device so that your phone and data are safe all the time.

Why Use Android Device Manager?

You might have a general idea about Android Device Manager, but here are the reasons you should use this brilliant service:

Easily locate your stolen Android device. This is one of the best ways to locate the people who have stolen your Android phone, in a market filled with great phone tracking options.

Find your lost Android device. Imagine forgetting where you last put your phone while it was on silent mode. Android Device Manager can help you find your phone in just a few minutes.

Change your phone’s lock PIN. This is the ideal way to make sure that your data is safe when your phone gets into the wrong hands.

Erase everything. This feature lets you erase all the data on your phone in order to avoid it being misused. It’s a great alternative to resetting your phone.

Method 1: Android Device Manager Website

This is probably the most used method on how to use Android device manager. Even though the official Android Device Manager app is available on the Google Play Store, the web page has been around for a long time and this is the ideal way to locate your phone if you don’t have an alternative Android device.

Step 1

Go to your PC’s web browser and open the Android Device Manager web page. This page will be the platform to find the phone and use other features of the service. You can also use this web page on another device, such as another phone or a tablet.

Step 2

Login with your Google account details and click on the Accept button in the Welcome popup. Make sure that you sign in with the Google account that you use on your Android device.

Step 3

Open the Google Settings app on your Android device, tap on Android Device Manager and make sure that the Remote locate this device and Allow remote lock and erase options are checked. If you cannot enable the Remote locate this device option, go to Location in the Google Settings app and enable the Access Location option.

Step 4

After enabling these options, you’ll get an Activate device administrator popup message. Tap on the Activate button.

Step 5

You should now see the name of your device on the Android Device Manager website that you opened earlier on your PC. If you have multiple devices active, they will appear separately. You’ll be able to see the exact location of your device along with the last used and last located time. In order to change the name of the device, click on the Pen button in the top right corner next to the name of your device.

Step 6

If you would like your device to ring at full volume, select the Ring option. This is a great way to locate your device if you can’t find it inside your house. Click on the Ring button in the Ring device popup.

Step 7

In order to lock your phone with a new password, select the Lock option. Enter the password and retype it in the confirmation popup. Click on the Lock button in order activate the password and lock the phone. Your device will now be locked and others won’t be able to access your data.

Step 8

To delete everything from your phone, select the Erase option. Click on Erase in the confirmation Erase all data popup. All your data will now be deleted and others won’t be able to view anything on your device. Make sure you backup your info beforehand.

Method 2: Android Device Manager App

The official Android Device Manager app was added to the Google Play Store recently and it is available for free. The app basically uses the exact same layout as the web page and you can use it on an alternative Android device when locating your Android phone. Remember that this app is to be used on the alternate Android device that you will use in order to locate the original Android device.

Step 1

Download and install the Android Device Manager app on your Android device. You can get the app through the Google Play button below.

Step 2

Open the app, login with your Google account details and tap on Accept in the Welcome popup message.

Step 3

Follow Step 3 and Step 4 from Method 1 in order to activate the Android Device Manager service on your phone. Once the service is activated, you’ll see the location of your phone in the app.

Step 4

In order to Ring the device, tap on the Ring option and press the Ring button in the Ring device popup.

Step 5

To lock the device, select the Lock option, enter the password that you want to set and tap on the Lock button.

Step 6

Select the Erase option to delete all your data and tap on the Erase button in the Erase device popup.

Conclusion

From conversations with friends to confidential business information, Android phones serve as personal companions for most of us, and I’m sure you can’t imagine losing your phone or the data on it.

However, like other things in life, you can easily lose your phone and the valuable data inside of it. We can’t really do much in order to keep our phone safe all the time, but what we can do is teach you how to use Android device manager. This way, you’ll be able to locate your phone when you lose it. If you’ve seen how Apple’s Find my iPhone service works, then I’m sure you would want something similar for your Android device.

Android Device Manager is the ideal option and even if you’ve never lost your phone, you should register your device just in case. The service doesn’t just locate your phone, but also lets you ring it, lock it and erase everything from it in just a couple of seconds. The official Android Device Manager website is perfect if you want to locate your phone through your PC. If you have another Android device, then you should try using the Android Device Manager app. Make sure that you keep your device backed up so that you don’t lose your important data when you’re using the Erase option in Android Device Manager.

Hi Katrina,
If you are using the app you can boot into safe mode to get into your phone and uninstall the app, The link below will show you how to do that, just in case you ´re not familiar with the process. Hope this helps. =-)